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Thursday, October 30, 2014

ULA Atlas V Successfully Launches with GPS IIF-8 Satellite

As reported by NASA Spaceflight: In
what is proving to be a dramatic week for space flight, United Launch
Alliance’s Atlas V rocket made its fiftieth flight on Wednesday, tasked
with orbiting the GPS IIF-8 satellite for the US Air Force. Liftoff from
SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral was on schedule at the start of an eighteen
minute window that opened at 13:21 local time (17:21 UTC).Atlas V Launch:Introduced in 2002, the Atlas V was originally developed by Lockheed
Martin for the US Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)
program, along with Boeing’s Delta IV.Based loosely on the earlier Atlas-Centaur series of rockets, the
Atlas V is a two-stage rocket with a Common Core Booster (CBC) first
stage and a Centaur upper stage.

Early
Atlas V launches were conducted by International Launch Services (ILS),
however Lockheed withdrew in 2006 ahead of the formation of United
Launch Alliance (ULA) that December.A partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, ULA is responsible
for the manufacture and operation of both EELVs and the older Delta II,
as well as marketing them to US Government customers.ULA has also conducted commercial missions under contract to Lockheed
Martin for the Atlas V, and Boeing for the Delta II. The Delta IV is
not offered for commercial launches.Both the Atlas V and Delta IV were designed to be adaptable to all of
the US Air Force’s payload requirements, with multiple configurations
depending on the required capacity.For the Atlas V this meant a Light configuration with a modernised
Agena upper stage, a series of medium to intermediate configurations
with varying numbers of solid rocket boosters to increase performance,
and a Heavy configuration with two additional Common Core Boosters to
provide the maximum capacity. The Light and Heavy configurations were
cancelled and never flew.The first flight of the Atlas V took place successfully in August
2002, carrying Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 6 spacecraft (since renamed Eutelsat 8
West C).All of the rocket’s early flights carried commercial communications
satellites, with the next few launches orbiting HellasSat-2, Rainbow 1,
AMC-16 and Inmarsat-4F1. In August 2005 the sixth Atlas V embarked on
the type’s first mission for the US Government, deploying NASA’s Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter on the first leg of its mission to the Red
Planet.The next launch in January 2006 carried the New Horizons probe, which
is currently en route to Pluto with a flyby expected next July.In April 2006 the Atlas flew its last mission for International
Launch Services, carrying SES Astra’s Astra-1KR spacecraft. Eleven
months later ULA flew its first Atlas mission, carrying six small
satellites for the Space Test Program.The only blemish on the Atlas V’s launch record to date occurred
during the rocket’s tenth flight, in June 2007. Carrying a pair of
Intruder ocean surveillance satellites, designated NROL-30 or USA-194,
for the National Reconnaissance Office, the Atlas injected its payload
into a lower than planned orbit after the upper stage ended its final
burn prematurely.The fault was later traced to a liquid hydrogen leak caused by a
faulty valve. Despite the shortfall both satellites were able to maneuver themselves into a usable orbit.The Atlas returned to flight in October 2007 with the launch of the
first Wideband Global Satcom spacecraft for the Air Force, finishing the
year with the deployment of a Quasar communications satellite for the
NRO in December.

In
2008 two Atlas V launches occurred, including the type’s first mission
from Vandenberg Air Force Base in March – using a pad which had
previously been used by the Atlas II. This launch carried a signals
intelligence satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, while the
other launch, in April, deployed ICO Global Communications’ ICO-G1
satellite.Despite the satellite being deployed successfully, concerns regarding
the performance of the first stage on the ICO mission kept the Atlas
grounded for the rest of 2008. A year later the rocket returned to
flight, again deploying a Wideband Global Satcom communications
satellite.This was the first of five launches in 2009, including NASA’s Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing
Satellite (LCROSS), which were deployed in June. As part of the LCROSS
mission the Atlas’ upper stage was intentionally impacted into the south
pole of the Moon.The three other launches in 2014 carried the PAN communications
satellite for an undisclosed government agency, a Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program (DMSP) weather satellite and the Intelsat 14
communications spacecraft.Four Atlas launches in 2010 carried NASA’s Solar Dynamics
Observatory, the first flight of the recoverable X-37B spacecraft, an
Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite and a
Topaz radar imaging spacecraft.Five launches in 2011 included NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter and the
Curiosity rover bound for Mars as well as three military payloads – one
of which was a further X-37B mission.In
2012 six launches were made, including the third X-37B – which landed
earlier this month after nearly two years in orbit – three military
communications satellites, a pair of Intruder ocean surveillance
satellites and NASA’s Van Allen Probes to study Earth’s radiation belts.Last year the Atlas made eight flights; deploying NASA’s TDRS-11 data
relay satellite, Landsat 8 Earth imaging spacecraft and the MAVEN probe
to study Mars. The remaining launches carried military payloads; a
SBIRS-GEO missile defence satellite, a GPS navigation spacecraft, MUOS
and AEHF communications satellites and a Topaz radar reconnaissance bird
for the NRO.Wednesday’s launch is the eighth Atlas launch of 2014.For
Atlas, the year began with the launch of NASA’s TDRS-12 in January,
before a launch from Vandenberg carried a DMSP weather satellite into
orbit in early April.Seven days after the DMSP launch another Atlas flew from Cape
Canaveral carrying the NROL-67 payload – believed to be a successor to
the Mercury signals intelligence satellites launched in the 1990s. In
May an Atlas V carried an NRO Quasar satellite, NROL-33, into orbit.Early August saw the launch of the previous GPS satellite – GPS IIF-7
– from the Cape, followed by a commercial launch from Vandenberg with
the WorldView-3 Earth imaging satellite. The most recent Atlas launch
occurred in mid-September with the CLIO satellite. Like 2009’s PAN, CLIO
is a communications satellite launched for an undisclosed government
agency.The Atlas that launched on Wednesday had the tail number AV-050.

Wednesday’s
payload, GPS IIF-8, is the eighth Block IIF satellite in the Global
Positioning System (GPS) constellation. Used to provide navigation data
to both military and civilian users, the GPS programme began in the
1970s with the first demonstration satellite launching in February 1978.The first-generation GPS constellation consisted of ten test
satellites – an eleventh was launched by failed to achieve orbit –
operating in more highly inclined orbits than those which would later be
used for operational missions.Begun as a military programme, US President Ronald Reagan ordered
that the system be made available to civilian users once complete after
the Soviet Union shot down a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 which strayed
into its airspace in 1983.The first operational, or Block II, GPS satellite was launched on the
maiden flight of the Delta II rocket in 1989, with all operational
spacecraft until 2009 riding to orbit atop Delta IIs. In late 1990 the
Block II spacecraft were replaced with the upgraded Block IIA, which
itself gave way to the Block IIR (Replenishment) series in 1997.The
current-generation GPS satellites, the Block IIF, are an interim series
designed to bridge the gap between the IIR and the new Block III
spacecraft which will replace them.Constructed by Boeing the new satellites are lighter than the
previous generation, achieved in part by eliminating the solid apogee
motor used to inject the satellites into their final orbit.The Atlas V and Delta IV, being far more powerful than the Delta II,
are able to place the spacecraft directly into their operational medium
Earth orbits.The first Block IIF satellite was deployed by a Delta IV in May 2010.
Of the seven launched to date, two have flown aboard Atlas Vs and the
remaining five atop Delta IVs.

Wednesday’s
launch took place from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station, a former Titan launch pad which was converted for the
Atlas V in the late 1990s. The complex was originally built in the
1960s for the Titan IIIC, with the Titan IIIE and Titan IV rockets later
launching from it.During the 1970s Complex 41 was the launch site for both of NASA’s
Viking missions to Mars and both Voyager missions to the Outer Planets,
which made use of the Titan IIIE with its Centaur upper stage.The final Titan IV launch from Complex 41 occurred in 1999, and was
an unsuccessful attempt to place a Defense Support Program missile
detection satellite into geostationary orbit. Demolition work on pad
structures began later the same year to set the facility up for the
Atlas V’s “clean pad” approach.Atlas rockets are assembled off-pad in the Vertical Integration
Facility, before being rolled to the launch complex atop a mobile launch
platform. By contrast the Atlas pad at Vandenberg, SLC-3E, uses a
traditional assembly-on-pad approach.

The launch on Wednesday began with ignition of the Atlas’ RD-180 main
engine 2.7 seconds before the countdown reached zero. Liftoff occurred
at the +1.1 second mark as the thrust the vehicle is producing exceeds
its weight.For
GPS launches the Atlas V flies in the 401 configuration, with a
four-meter payload fairing, a single engine Centaur upper stage and no
solid rocket motors attached to the first stage. As a result all thrust
during the early stages of flight comes from the RD-180 burning RP-1
propellant in liquid oxygen.The RD-180, which is derived from the RD-170 developed for the Soviet
Union’s Zenit and Energia rockets, is a two-chamber engine which was
first introduced on the Atlas III, a short-lived rocket which served as a
test-bed for the Atlas V development program.

Around
17.2 seconds into flight AV-050 will began a series of pitch and yaw
manoeuvres to establish the trajectory it required to reach its target
orbit.The rocket flew downrange on an azimuth of 45.8 degrees, reaching a speed of Mach 1 at around the one minute, 18.5 second mark.The vehicle passed through Max-Q, the area of maximum dynamic pressure, 90.3 seconds after liftoff.First stage flight lasted four minutes and 3.8 seconds, with
separation of the spent Common Core Booster occurring six seconds after
its engine cut off.Following
staging the second stage, the Centaur, entered its prestart phase with
ignition of its RL10A-4-2 engine taking place ten seconds later. The
payload fairing separated from the nose of the rocket eight seconds into
second stage flight.The Centaur burned for twelve minutes, 49.6 seconds, entering an
elliptical transfer orbit. Three hours, one minute and 7.3 seconds
later, after coasting to its apogee, the Centaur restarted for a brief
second burn. Lasting 89.7 seconds, this burn circularised the
spacecraft’s orbit ready for deployment.The satellite separated four minutes and 45.7 seconds after the burn
ended, or three hours, 24 minutes and 17.5 seconds after lifting off.
The target orbit for spacecraft separation is a circular
semi-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 20,448 kilometres (12,705
miles, 11,041 nautical miles) and an inclination of 55.0 degrees.Once operational GPS IIF-8 will broadcast pseudo-random noise (PRN)
code 03. The satellite will operate in slot 1 of plane E of the GPS
constellation, replacing the GPS IIR-4 satellite which was launched in
May 2000. IIR-4, which is also known as USA-150, will then be re-phased
into a reserve slot in the A plane of the constellation to replace GPS
IIA-19, the final Block IIA satellite to launch, which is being
decommissioned.The seventieth orbital launch attempt of 2014, Wednesday’s mission
comes less than twenty four hours after the failure of the United
States’ previous launch.

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I have more than 25 years of experience in development, design, and mobile communications products and technology. I also enjoy skiing, hiking, scuba, tennis, reading, traveling, foreign languages, and painting. I'm an active member of the National Ski Patrol (NSP) and volunteer my time at either Loveland Ski resort, or Ski Cooper.